Grange Fairs A Return To Simpler Times

Grange Fairs A Return To Simpler Pleasures

Somehow, it didn't seem to matter that there were more vegetables than people Saturday at the Meriden Grange Fair.

After all, food is at the core of most grange fairs, whether served up for good eating or lovingly displayed on long tables draped with paper tablecloths.

And when one of those vegetables is a basketball-sized, 15-pound cabbage with a blue ribbon draped over its leafy side, who could say the day wasn't a success?

"As a matter of fact we got two cabbages, so we're using one in the back for cole slaw," said Cindy Charbonneau, one of the fair organizers, as the smell of the advertised roast beef dinner wafted through the air of the grange building on Broad Street.

Dinners of roast beef or chicken barbecue, often simmered outside over hot coals, are standard fare at many grange fairs in the state. They typify the simple country pleasures that set grange fairs apart from the bigger, fancier regional fairs offered this time of year across the state.

Grange fairs do lack the excitement and variety of the fairs that attract thousands of people. Crowded midways, blaring loudspeakers and dusty tractor pulls are nowhere to be found. Teenagers can forget about any pick-up opportunities.

Instead, the fairs exude a contented atmosphere, the feeling of sitting down at the table in your grandma's kitchen behind a warm piece of pie.

"I think the bigger fairs are more commercial, you know," said Marion Carlson of Wethersfield, who was supervising the baked goods for sale Saturday at the Wethersfield Grange Fair on Main Street. "But this is just a local thing, for local people to exhibit their wares."

The grange, which is open to men and women, is the oldest agricultural organization in the nation. The group was founded in the wake of the Civil War to try to bring back together the farming communities of the North and South.

In Connecticut, there are 120 local granges organized into 12

regions. The groups traditionally open their meetings with a salute to the flag and a prayer. Local granges are open to residents of any community, not just those who live in the town where meetings are held.

"Anybody who is a grange member can go to any grange meeting in the United States or Canada," Carlson said. "It's just like a family."

In Granby, Laura Adams and her 7-year-old daughter, Heather, were inspecting tomatoes that had been chosen "First Premium" and pinned with blue ribbons. Heather speculated that the tomatoes were no better than the ones she and her mother grew in their garden in Burlington.

"If I took a bite out of this, I could tell which ones are juicier," she said, although she respected the display.

Laura Adams said she stopped by the little white grange building with green trim on Route 189 because she was searching for a fun outing for herself and Heather. She was a little surprised that the fair was contained to one building, but impressed by the rows of carefully canned foods and the ceiling-high sunflower plant leaning awkwardly in one corner of the room.

"I had no idea it was going to be this tiny," she said. "But it's kind of quaint.